The Easy Phase
by cactusarms
Summary: AU: Michelle and Tony already began a relationship several weeks before the events of Day 2.
1. 6 AM

I recently was inspired to watch Day 2 again for the first time in years. I came up with the slightly AU version of TM if they had already begun a relationship before Day 2. Please leave any reviews! Thanks! :)

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Day 2, 6:00 AM

The blaring screech of the radio alarm reverberated throughout the dark bedroom and shook the grey walls. A delicate hand reached out and lazily smashed the snooze button before tucking back into the oversized duvet.

"God dammit. I hate the snooze button. Let's just get up now." His voice was rough and soft as he gently shook the bare shoulders next to him.

A messy bun of chestnut hair scooted down under the crisp white comforter and he heard an irritated groan.

"C'mon Michelle, we're gonna be late if we don't get moving." He ripped the sheets back and was met with brown eyes halfway hidden by her heavy eyelids. "We didn't even stay up that late."

"No. _You_ didn't stay up late. _I_ woke up twice in the middle of the night because a damn foghorn was sleeping next to me." She blew a loose curl from out of her eyes and sat up. She swore Tony's only flaw was his terrible snoring. It was something she was still adjusting to in their first weeks of sharing a bed.

"You're so full of shit. I do not snore." He scoffed at her and rolled his eyes dramatically. She shook her head at him and he couldn't help but laugh a little. It was pretty funny when she got upset. They still hadn't had a _real_ fight in their budding romance. Not that he was complaining. It was usually little spats about what apartment had a more comfortable bed and Michelle getting angry that he would never let her pay for any of their outings.

She poked his bare chest and frowned. "You owe me coffee. Lots of coffee. Why don't you start a pot while I shower? I'll be down in 20."

"Fair." He pulled her in for a brief kiss before jumping out of bed. Michelle admired his back as he sauntered out of the bedroom with only his boxers slung low across his hips.

As she washed her hair she smiled and sighed. Sometimes she still had to pinch herself. She had been pining after Tony for months and was starting to feel a little bit pathetic. Even her best friend wanted to slap her for her non-stop whining for nearly a year.

She never thought it would flourish to anything more than some frustrating, albeit delicious, office sexual tension. All the stolen looks during meetings and flirtatious body language had finally come to fruition three weeks earlier when he asked her out. He stumbled through the words, glancing around the CTU parking lot nervously as he asked her if she felt like grabbing dinner that weekend. She couldn't believe it. After a few weeks and several dates, she finally invited him to stay the night. They were definitely still in the "getting to know you" phase where everything was new and interesting.

Michelle realized she was taking a little too long in the shower when she was shaken out of her daydream by the sound of the glass shower door swinging open.

"Mind if I join?" Michelle turned around and was met with a pair of large, dark eyes. She scanned his naked body and smiled, even more pleased with herself.

"Mmm I don't know, we might be late." She smiled at him as she pulled him under the stream. He pulled her in for a deep kiss and held her face in his palms. "You taste like coffee. You better have at least two cups left for me."

"Do you think I want to risk my life?" He smiled at her, knowing full well by now that caffeine was her lifeline.

Tony couldn't believe he had the balls to ask her out. He had been lusting after her for a long time and never expected anything to happen. After Nina, he swore he would never date anyone remotely in the same field as him. After a few failed dates with very nice and very average women he realized he could never really have a healthy relationship outside the office, and successfully do his job. It was no wonder most of his colleagues were divorced and single.

When he met Michelle he instantly felt at ease with her. She was smart, professional, but certainly no pushover. They had butted heads more than once over how to approach some intel and she never backed down on her opinions without a fight. He secretly liked that about her.

It wasn't until a couple of months of fighting his carnal thoughts about her that he realized something. She liked him too. _Really_ liked him. He noticed that she would sometimes excessively touch her hair when they would be talking, like a nervous tick, and he would catch her looking at him during the day. Not that he didn't excessively look at her, either. He assumed she was single based on the fact that their hours were so obscene it seemed impossible. The day he asked her out he really wasn't planning on it, but they had walked out to their cars at the same time. They were having an easy conversation about favorite restaurants and after several minutes of lingering in front of their cars, he blurt it out. He was relieved when she smiled and said yes. After a couple of weeks of being exiled after some heavy make out sessions, he felt like a horny teen. Thank God she invited him into her bedroom when she did, because he didn't think he could handle one more night of going home with blue balls.

And now, here he was sliding against her naked form in the shower. He admired her body as his hands crawled down her sides, brushing against the outside of her breasts.

"Ok, I really need to get out. I need to get changed." Michelle broke him out of his reverie and she slipped out past him.

Twenty minutes later he found her sitting at the kitchen table sipping on her coffee and eating a bowl of cereal.

"You better head out," she told him without lifting her gaze from the newspaper. "I'll leave 15 minutes after you." They had a system down pat for every time they slept at the same apartment. One of them would always come in earlier than the other, so no one would suspect anything. They hoped any of their more aware coworkers would just assume they still had obvious crushes on each other, but nothing more.

Michelle stood up and straightened Tony's collar before kissing him goodbye. She was counting down the minutes until they could be themselves, alone again.


	2. A New Threat

Tony would never refer to himself as a particularly cheerful person, especially not after everything he'd seen through work. But here he was, driving to work with a huge grin plastered on his face. Things just felt so easy with them. Like they had already been together for years. When he walked into CTU around 7:30, he immediately grabbed his beloved Cubs mug and filled it to the brim with more coffee. Scanning some emails, he tried to hold back a knowing grin as he watched Michelle situate herself at her desk. She looked across the office to him and tucked back a curl before diving into her work.

Thirty minutes later Tony whipped around to see Paula Schaeffer, the new programmer chasing him down and presenting him with intel. She organized it about four different ways and was babbling on about not being sure what he preferred. Tony liked Paula, but she always presented too many details. She was a typical IT genius. Ultra smart with a touch of awkwardness.

She continued her assault of over information on George and Tony laughed internally at his superior's obvious discomfort. After Paula got shooed away, Tony attempted to schedule a meeting regarding airport security at LAX and knew George would be under enthused at the news. Getting him to do much of anything was like pulling teeth.

"Tony, I'll tell you what. If I'm still here by this next time next year take me out to the woodshed and shoot me. I should be in DC by now, not chasing little old ladies who set off metal detectors with their knitting needles." Tony forced him into a date and watched as Michelle quickly approached.

"…that can't be right. Aileen, get Rayburn on the line in my office," is all Tony could make out before George rushed up the stairs.

Michelle approached Tony with a knowing smirk on her face. "What was that about?"

"NSA wants us to bring in Jack Bauer." Tony was stunned. He hadn't seen Jack in over a year.

"What? What for?" Tony was racking his brain trying to figure out why the White House would need Bauer.

"I don't know. They didn't say. Isn't Bauer inactive?" Michelle looked even more confused. She had heard some stories about Bauer and knew about Nina, but she and Tony had still never had a very deep talk about the whole situation.

"Yeah. He's inactive." Tony sauntered off, confused and slightly alarmed.

Tony tried to leave Jack messages on every known number that belonged to him and cursed when he hung up the phone after leaving his third message. He knew Jack had no desire to be found, and after what happened to his wife Tony really couldn't blame him.

Thirty minutes later Michelle rushed over to Tony's desk after noticing something alarming. She quickly leaned over him and reached over to his keyboard.

"Have you looked at your system in the last five minutes?" She realized now she might be a little close in his personal space for the office.

"No, why?" Tony furrowed his brow in confusion.

"Langley issued an information flow advisory. Something's going on. Whatever it is, it's going to be interagency." Tony quickly stood up and caught a huge whiff of Michelle's hair, realizing they were in extremely close quarters. Both felt a little uncomfortable and exposed. The last thing they needed right now was someone catching on to them. Michelle got her orders and quickly headed back to her desk.

A couple of minutes later when George explained there was a nuclear bomb in the city Michelle felt like the wind was getting knocked out of her. Her mind instantly went to her brother and his kids. She had obviously dealt with many terrorist situations in the past, but nothing of this scale and nothing that would directly effect her family. She talked herself out of it and knew she had to keep trudging forward.


	3. Meeting Jack

Michelle felt nervous. She had no idea what to expect when Bauer returned with Tony. She was shocked when she saw someone enter who looked more like a lumberjack than a special agent. She tried not to be personally offended when Jack showed no interest in knowing who she was and cut to the chase with George. Jack immediately stormed out when the nuclear threat was revealed and Tony was left to chase after him.

Tony tried his hardest to convince Jack to stay, but knew he could care less about helping them out. Eighteen months ago Jack's wife had died in these same walls. There were a lot of people to blame, not that anyone had any idea about Nina. Especially Tony.

"I trusted everybody here at CTU to protect my wife and I lost her. I'm sorry Tony, but I'm not going to lose my daughter." Jack's words brought back guilt that Tony had buried over the past year and a half.

"I know, Jack. I was there." That had been one of the worst days of Tony's life. Not only was he humiliated by Nina, but he watched Jack's life be ripped out of his hands by her as well.

"I know you did everything you could. I do. I just can't lose my daughter." Tony couldn't help but sympathize. Kim was all he had left at this point. He just didn't want to return with the bad news.

George was irate. He knew Rayburn was going to chew him out over this. How could Tony not talk him into staying?

"Back off, George." Tony practically growled when George got in his face about it.

"Look, maybe there's another way to find Wald…" Michelle was trying to break the tension between her two superiors, but expected to be shut down. George made fun of her sarcastically, making her feel embarrassed that she spoke up.

"Settle down George…" Tony felt protective over Michelle. Not only as a boyfriend, but her colleague as well. She appreciated his assertiveness, but was more relieved when Jack came back.

They were all relieved. Tony quickly left to call the agents to retrieve Kim per the request of her father.

Michelle began to dive into helping Jack rebuild his cover with Wald and his men. Jack was intense, but she knew he was the best at what he did. He certainly was not conventional, she very quickly learned after he took out the only witness against Wald. Michelle got shooed out of the room by Jack and left him and Chapelle alone with the witness.

Michelle escorted him to his drop and immediately flew back to CTU. She got new intel on a lead in a Culver City and overheard Tony's annoyance at George's lack of willingness to do anything to go the extra mile. It was something Tony repeatedly complained about to Michelle now that they were dating. She tried to not speak about it too much and egg him on, but she had to admit it was obvious George hated his job.

Tony was irate. He knew George could be a selfish asshole, but clearly trying to escape the blast radius was the worst of it. He couldn't help but speak up. When he left regardless of Tony's hash accusation, Tony had a feeling he would be dealing with things alone the rest of the day. Not long after George left, Tony received a tip and decided it was literally the _least_ George could do for them to check it out on his way out of the city.

Michelle approached Tony who was on an extremely tense call. Eric Rayburn had instructed that they transfer all of their data on the nuke to the White House servers with vague reasonings. When he hung up, Michelle inhaled a sharp breath. She knew to investigate if the other agencies were receiving the same rush orders from Washington.

Michelle's heart dropped. She rushed to Tony to warn him about the threat against CTU. Tony couldn't believe the White House had lied to him. There was no way they would be able to safely escape before the bombs went off. He wanted to shove Michelle out and ensure her safety, but knew as his next in command she needed to be there. He just had to hope they both made it out.


End file.
